No One to Trust (Hidden Identity Book #1): A Novel

by Eason, Lynette

  Did she trust this man? No, but what choice did she have? She couldn’t take on those men by herself. She had to let Mike help her. The thought turned her stomach.

  He shut his phone. “You said they’re watching, that they probably know I’m here.”

  “They know. They knew you were here earlier and called to ask who you were.”

  His brow furrowed. “Okay, then we need a plan.”

  “I can’t even think straight.”

  Mike got on his phone, and while Summer listened in on the one-sided conversation, she couldn’t follow the exchange. Something about three or four vehicles and wild-goose chases.

  He hung up and looked at her. “They’re going to know I’m a cop. If these guys are as powerful as you say they are, they’ve already traced my car tag and know who I am. You’re going to have to come with me. It’s the only way to keep you safe.”

  “The way you kept Kyle safe?” She flung the words at him.

  He winced. “Kyle must have done something stupid that led these guys to him. He’s been fine for almost a year.”

  “When’s the trial?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “The trial. That’s what you’re waiting on, isn’t it?”

  He studied her, then nodded. “Three weeks.”

  “Three weeks away and they find him now?” She gave a humorless laugh. “I’m not so sure Kyle’s trusting the right people.”

  His eyes snapped at her and his lips tightened. After a few seconds, he blew a breath out. “You may not be far off the mark.” He moved closer. “Now, do you know where he is?”

  She met his gaze. “Yes.”

  “Then they do too.”

  8

  6:30 P.M.

  Summer wanted to scream at Mike to hurry up, but he was already going eighty-five, so she figured she’d stay quiet and just pray. They were almost to the turnoff anyway. Mike was talking to someone named Bennie. “Who’s on him?” A pause. A sigh of relief. “Chase and Adam … yeah … yeah, I got it. I promise.” They went back and forth for the next few turns, then Mike said, “I’m pulling in now.”

  She barely waited for the car to stop before she threw the door open and bolted to the hospital information desk. Clutching her purse to her chest, she leaned against the counter, “I’m looking for Kyle Aber—” No, he wouldn’t be registered under that name. “—the man who was brought in and had no ID. I believe he’s my husband.” Or should she just go ahead and ask for David Hackett? Anger simmered. She ignored it. She would be mad later. After she found out if he would live or die.

  Armed with the room number and her self-appointed bodyguard, she found the elevator and jammed the button.

  “Are you all right?” Mike asked.

  She lasered him with a look. “Just peachy. Wouldn’t you be if you’d just found out the last year of your life had been a lie?”

  At least he had the grace to flush. “Look, Kyle has worked hard to stay alive this past year. He hasn’t done anything except what he promised to do.”

  “He promised to never lie to me. Where does that fit in with him keeping promises?”

  “He didn’t have a choice, Summer. Can you look at things from his point of view and maybe cut him a little slack?”

  Okay, so she would be mad now. So angry she couldn’t breathe, she held up her hand. “I’m not talking about this with you anymore.”

  The elevator opened and she stepped off. Room numbers posted on the wall gave her the direction to Kyle’s room. As she approached, she swallowed hard and rubbed her sweaty palms down her jeans. She wanted to turn and run, pretend this wasn’t happening, that her husband wasn’t a liar.

  But he was. And she’d never run from anything in her life. She sure wasn’t about to start now.

  She turned the corner and came to a halt. Two men stood outside Kyle’s room. Fear flashed for a brief moment until she realized Mike was approaching them with an outstretched hand. Fellow marshals, she figured.

  Of course. As soon as he knew where Kyle was, he would have called for help.

  Her phone rang and she snatched it from her purse. Marlee. She was going to have to find some time to call her sister back or Marlee would be filing a missing person report.

  Summer forced herself to be polite to the two other marshals. This wasn’t their fault and she wouldn’t take her anger out on them. “Hello.”

  “Mrs. Abernathy.” Tall, good-looking with green eyes and military-cut brown hair, the one nearest her held out a hand. “I’m Adam Buchanan, US Deputy Marshal.”

  She shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Marshal Buchanan.” So nice I could puke. She clamped her lips together, refusing to let the words out.

  “Call me Adam.” He gestured to the man next to him. “This is Chase Tollison.”

  They exchanged greetings. She got to the point. “Is that man in there my husband?”

  “Yes ma’am,” Adam said.

  She took a deep breath. “All right then.”

  She placed a hand on the door, ready to give it a good push when Adam touched her shoulder. “While it’s nothing life-threatening, he’s pretty beat up. Prepare yourself.”

  “Thanks.” Mike started to follow her and she glared at him. “I’d like to see him alone first, if you don’t mind.”

  He started to protest. Adam hushed him and opened the door for her. She let it shut in Mike’s face.

  Finally, she was in the room. At least it wasn’t ICU. Her lips tightened. But he might need ICU after she got through with him.

  Once again, she forced herself to push the anger aside for the moment. Without taking her eyes from the man in the bed, she shed her heavy down coat and let it fall into the vacant chair next to the window. Her heart constricted, her breath whooshed from her lungs. Adam was right. Kyle looked pretty beat up. The left side of his face sported several shades of purple, blue, and yellow. The IV dripped steadily into his left arm and his ribs were taped. Bruised, not broken. Hurt and sore, but nothing he wouldn’t heal from.

  Summer stepped closer and clasped his hand to curl her fingers around his.

  His eyes fluttered. Opened. “Summer,” he croaked. “You’re safe?”

  “I’m safe. For right now. Not so sure about you.”

  His blue eyes held hers and she let her anger show. He sighed. “So you know.”

  “I found out when a man named Corbin Hayes showed up in our bedroom this morning and threatened to cut off my finger unless I gave him a laptop and flash drive you stole.”

  Bright fear flashed across his face. Strange, she didn’t think the fear was for himself. Was it for her? He struggled to sit up, wincing with the effort, right hand pressed to his midsection. She moved back and let him. Refused to help him.

  But was proud of herself for not slugging him.

  He swung his legs over the side of the bed and pulled out the IV. He held tissue over the area until it stopped bleeding.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “We’ve got to get out of here. Gotta keep you safe.” He grunted and stood, a little wobbly, but on his feet.

  Summer was stunned. How could he possibly be standing when he looked like death had come knocking and he’d barely held the door shut?

  “There are three US Marshals outside your door,” she said. “I think you’re pretty safe.”

  “Not worried about me. I can take care of myself.” He paused and grimaced. “When I don’t have a car slamming into me.”

  “Was it an accident?” she asked. If he was in the Witness Protection program, anything was suspect.

  “I don’t know. I think the other driver died, so we may never know.” He reached for the bag in her left hand. “Did you bring me some clothes?”

  Almost without thinking, she’d grabbed them on the way out of the house. She handed them to him. “So what do I call you?”

  He paused, his face hard, eyes shuttered. “What did Hayes tell you?”

  “A lot. Your friends were more t
han willing to tell me the truth. Which is more than I can say for you.”

  He whirled on her, swayed, and sat hard on the bed, the gray pallor to his face really kicking up her worry meter. Which fueled her anger. She didn’t want to worry about him.

  “I’m so sorry, Summer, but I couldn’t tell you the truth,” he said. “I wanted to, so many times, but I couldn’t.” He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. When he opened them, she could see the pain glinting there. “And he’s not my friend. He’s a killer.”

  “Organized crime?”

  He looked down as he pulled on his pants, then slipped into his shirt. By the time he finished, even the gray was gone and he now had about as much color as the bedsheet beneath him. “Yeah. And you can call me David. They know where I am now.”

  “David.” She tried the name and found it bitter on her tongue. “Did you steal the laptop and the flash drive he wants?”

  Panting, sweat beading his brow, one hand pressed against his taped ribs, he looked at her. “Yes.”

  9

  FRIDAY

  7:00 P.M.

  The door opened and Mike hovered half in and half out of the room. “Is it safe to come in?”

  “Yes,” David said. “But we’re not going to be here much longer.”

  Mike walked to the bedside. “Are you okay to travel?”

  “I have to be.” As soon as he got the dizziness under control. Sitting still helped.

  Summer stood there quietly, her eyes bouncing between the men, taking it all in. The lack of expression on her face worried him. He’d been agonizing for months about telling her the truth and had, ironically, planned to tell her today. All of it. The whole terrible story. And then beg her to forgive him.

  Only he’d waited too long.

  Summer stared at him a few seconds longer, then spun on her heel and was out the door.

  “Summer, stop!” David shouted.

  “David, get back here!”

  David went after her, ignoring the pain thrumming through him and Mike’s shout to stop. And the light-headedness that made him want to keel over.

  Once outside the room, the marshals flanked him. “Where’d she go?”

  “The stairs,” Adam said. “But you’re in no shape—”

  David bolted for the stairs, gasping as his ribs and head protested.

  “David! You can’t do this!”

  Swallowing against the nausea, David ignored them and pushed the stairwell door open. He started down. “Summer!” His voice echoed around him. He heard her retreating footsteps and hurried faster, tripped and caught himself on the handrail. “Summer, wait.”

  Her footsteps stopped and her voice rose from below. “Leave me alone, David. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”

  “It’s not safe. They know who you are. They’ll use you to get to me.”

  “Not if we’re not together anymore.”

  Her words cut like shards of glass shredding his heart. Not because he didn’t deserve them, but because she didn’t deserve what he’d done to her, what he’d pulled her into the middle of. “Summer, please.” He kept going, desperate to catch up with her. Finally, he saw her, heard the marshals behind him. It wouldn’t matter to them that his marriage had just fallen apart. All they cared about was keeping him safe for the trial. He had to get Summer to listen to him. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “Too late, Kyle … David … whoever you are.”

  Her steps resumed.

  So did his.

  He followed her into the lobby of the hospital, his teeth clenched against the pain. She whirled. “Stop following me. We’re done.”

  “We’re not done. I don’t accept that.”

  Fury ignited. She jabbed a finger into his chest and he fell onto the bench behind him. For a moment, sympathy graced her eyes, then they hardened again. “You don’t get to make that choice. You made your choice when you lied to me. Stood there and lied to me when I told you that was the one thing I could never forgive. How could you? What kind of man does that?” Tears pooled.

  David was vaguely conscious of the show they were putting on for those in the lobby and the marshals trying to corral him, but he didn’t care. Right now, stopping Summer from walking out the door was his only objective.

  He stood, pulled her to the side, and lowered his voice. “A fool. An idiot. A man who made a huge mistake and is asking for forgiveness. Please, Summer.”

  She jerked away from him, her chin trembling. “Those are pretty words, David, but you’ve always been good at throwing them around. Too bad you’re saying them after you got caught in the lies. Well, I’m not falling for them. I don’t believe anything you’re saying.” She stepped back. “There are no appeals in this situation. We’re done and that’s final.”

  His jaw flexed. “They may be pretty words, but I mean every one of them.” He gripped her upper arms. “Your life depends on you listening to me.”

  “I’m done listening.” She sighed and shook her head. “I need some time. Time away from you.”

  He groaned. “You can’t. They’ll find you and—”

  “No. You’re not going to use that to keep me around.” Tears clouded her vision. “I can’t believe you did this to me. I just can’t—” She pulled in a deep breath. “If you’re so worried about me, tell one of your marshal friends to keep up, because I’m leaving.”

  Adam intervened. “Ma’am, he’s right. Mike told me what happened to you with Corbin Hayes. You need to stay with us.”

  Her lip curled, disgust shooting from every pore. “Right. You men just have to stick together, don’t you?” Without another word, she made a beeline for the revolving door.

  Summer had experienced a broken heart before. Her father’s bitter duplicity and the subsequent custody battle that led to the most miserable three years of her life. Her fiancé’s unfaithfulness and heartfelt lies that he was innocent. Only to have his lover come forward and let Summer know exactly how sneaky he’d really been.

  But the pain shattering through her now didn’t compare. Out on the sidewalk, she glanced around. The darkness was broken by the city lights, headlights from passing cars. She stopped and stared at the nearest vehicle. And realized she was stranded. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Marlee’s number. Her sister answered on the first ring with, “Where have you been? I’ve been calling and calling. Are you all right?”

  “Hey. No, I’m not all right. I’m stranded and I need a ride.” Summer refused to apologize. She’d explain when Marlee pulled up in front of her.

  “You were supposed to go with me to take Sugar to the vet this morning. You totally stood me up.”

  Summer smothered a groan. She’d forgotten she’d made that promise two weeks ago before she and David had decided to take the day off together. More pain cramped her heart at the memory. “Marlee, are you listening? I need a ride.”

  “Need a ride? Where are you?”

  “Three hours away from you. In Charlotte, North Carolina.” Summer sighed and sank onto the bench at the bus stop.

  “North Carolina?” Marlee’s screech nearly deafened her.

  Cars passed her, people hurried on their way, and Summer sat. Lonely. Defeated. Weary. And scared. She looked back toward the hospital and saw David limping toward her, the marshals not far behind him. The determined expression on his face sparked her anger once again. She jumped up and started walking again. “Listen, Marlee—”

  “What are you doing in North Carolina? You’re supposed to be here. How could you stand me up? Do you know how worried I was? How could you be so selfish?”

  Summer groaned and closed her eyes. Why had she called her sister?

  Brakes squealed.

  Time moved in slow motion. Van doors swung open.

  “Summer!” David’s voice echoed around her.

  She spun on her heel, saw David shoved by the nearest marshal into the door of the closest shop.

  A hard hand grabbed her upper arm.

 
Mike Thomas lifted his weapon and Summer knew she was dead if she didn’t help Mike protect her. She yanked at her attacker’s grip and swung a leg out with a powerful roundhouse kick. The grip lessened and a whoosh escaped the man.

  Satisfaction flowed at the solid connection, only to have the fear return at his retaliation. He lifted his weapon. Summer dropped like a rock to the hard concrete. Two shots sounded and she waited for the piercing pain of the bullets.

  When it didn’t happen, she opened her eyes to see Mike standing over the fallen man, kicking his weapon out of reach. The young man’s eyes latched on to hers. Venomous fury, pain from his wounds—and fear—glared at her. His breath rattled and he spat blood. She shuddered and backed away from him. Adam raced after the disappearing van. Burnt rubber assailed her nose and she choked on the fumes.

  But she was alive. And not a captive of the men who wanted her husband dead.

  The sick feeling in her gut said life as she knew it was definitely over.

  10

  David’s punch landed with a solid thud against the marshal’s chin. Just hard enough to gain his freedom, but lacking the force that would break the man’s jaw. He bolted from the store with pained curses ringing in his ears.

  None of that mattered. Summer needed him.

  David pressed a hand to his screaming ribs and raced back out into the street to see Summer sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.

  He rushed to her. “Are you all right?”

  He grasped her upper arm and helped her to her feet. She snagged her phone from the concrete and stuffed it in her pocket. Her blank stare, automatic actions, and repeated shivers told him she was in shock.

  Mike yelled, “What are you doing? Are you crazy? Get back inside.”

  “I’m not going anywhere without my wife.” Beneath his palm, he could feel her trembling increase.

  Then she moved. Fast. She jerked away. “They were going to kidnap me. They gave me twelve hours to find that computer. My twelve hours aren’t up yet.”

  She lifted a shaky hand and swiped her hair away from her face. David’s fingers itched to help, but he figured it would be a good way to lose a few digits.